


Young

by Truthwritaslies



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-11 21:45:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5643058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Truthwritaslies/pseuds/Truthwritaslies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Fix-It: instead of feeling a weak, involuntary impulse toward kindness, Peter consciously and actively chooses to save Harry</p>
            </blockquote>





	Young

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own any commercially recognized characters and I make no money off this fic.

They always forget (except when it's convenient) how _young_ the five of them all were.

Peter certainly hadn't felt like an adult all those times he had followed Sirius and James out the door and into Auror classes. And afterwards, always trailing behind, into the Order and then on to the battlefields he'd certainly not felt any older than the child who had barely made it into Hogwarts by the skin of his teeth. 

So yeah, when he'd been cornered by Death Eaters and then taken and tortured until Lord Voldemort had deigned to make an appearance and an offer, of course he had, childishly, reacted on the instinct to make it all stop. Say yes and there will be no more pain they had told him. Even in his own head he hadn't been free of that hateful voice. 

So he said yes, because he wasn't James who was always more than willing to fight 'til the last breath, or Sirius who reveled in the struggle or even Remus who always gave his everything. Peter is and had always been small and afraid and so _inadequate_ next to his friends and so he says yes because he's hurt and afraid and desperately hoping that he'll wake up and his mother will be there kissing his forehead and telling him it's all just a bad dream. 

They told him the pain would stop but it only got worse after that. The "rescue". The inability to warn them against what he's done. He thinks he's going to die when he manages to persuade Sirius to switch with him, make him the secret keeper. He doesn't die but Peter wishes he had when he wakes up and James and Lily are dead. 

They were all so young and no one remembered that.

So when he looks into Harry's eyes from across the cauldron, arms cradling the sickly _thing_ that is all that's left of the Dark Lord (cradling it the way he once cradled Harry, so tiny and trusting), all he can think is how _young_ Harry is even now. 

Memories flash through his head of Harry as a baby, and then as a teenager, so kind and yet still thoughtless. He remembers the last time he had seen Harry and how the child had stood against Sirius and Remus wanting Peter to have a fair trial because Harry'd already seen too much unfairness in his life. 

He's so young and so Peter steps closer to the cauldron, holding only boiling water for the moment, and with one decisive move he shoves the Dark Lord in and holds him under. Even with the pain of the boiling water burning his skin off, even with the bite of Nagini on his calf injecting him with poison, even with the difficulty of holding that _thing_ under water as it struggles he holds Lord Voldemort under the water until the struggles stop and then as long as he can. 

The cauldron exploding is only a little surprising. 

Peter knows he's dying but at least this time he made the right choice. The weight of what he had done lifts and he feels young again. He laughs and turns his head to face Harry. 

"Run home, little faun." He mumbles, knowing Harry will not remember nickname but unable to hold it back any longer. 

Harry looks so lost but determined as he listens to Uncle Wormy like he hasn't since the last time Lily had Peter put him to bed. 

Peter is at peace at last. And if he's very lucky, Harry will not be back in time to save him.


End file.
